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Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds
 
  •  Track Listings (14) - Disc #1

If you need some pointy-headed pundit to sell you on the merits of Pet Sounds, your money might be better spent on an ear specialist. Brian Wilson's gift to 20th-century music elevated this pop album into a beguiling music...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: The Beach Boys
Title: Pet Sounds
Members Wishing: 7
Total Copies: 0
Label: Capitol
Original Release Date: 1/1/1966
Re-Release Date: 7/13/1999
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 724352124121

Synopsis

Amazon.com
If you need some pointy-headed pundit to sell you on the merits of Pet Sounds, your money might be better spent on an ear specialist. Brian Wilson's gift to 20th-century music elevated this pop album into a beguiling musical and emotional cogency that still operates outside pop culture's fickle space-time continuum--and limited critical lexicon. There's never been another record to compare (Rubber Soul, its inspiration, is close; Sgt. Pepper's, its response, misses the point), and certainly no album has been as dissected, overanalyzed, and predigested for public consumption. In 1997 Capitol Records devoted an entire four-disc box set, The Pet Sounds Sessions, to its thorough deconstruction. The techno-marvel centerpiece of that project--the album's first true stereo mix, painstakingly conjured out of multitape session sources by producer-engineer Mark Linett (under Wilson's supervision)--was at once heresy and revelation. Now the label has gratifyingly seen fit to offer both mixes on a single disc (along with alternate versions of "Hang On to Your Ego," the original title of "I Know There's An Answer"), an idea that should please the orthodox and heretics alike. And while the album has always clearly been The Brian Wilson Show featuring the Beach Boys, biographer Brad Elliott's concise new notes attempt to be more inclusive of a wider band perspective. The result (three of the five band members claim credit for the album title) sometimes resembles Rashomon. If Pet Sounds forever crystallized the band's various creative (in)differences, it also became Wilson's grand karmic joke on his band mates; its burgeoning reputation (Mojo magazine's panel of pop experts once elected it greatest album of all time) guaranteed they would sing its songs--and praises--until the end. And if putting two different versions of the same album on one disc seems like overkill, look at the bright side: it's a perfect excuse to listen to the glorious Pet Sounds twice.- Jerry McCulley

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Member CD Reviews

Sherry O. (SherryinGeorgia) from BROOKS, GA
Reviewed on 5/27/2018...
I do love the Beach Boys, always have, brings back memories
0 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Larry T. (brainburst) from BRONX, NY
Reviewed on 1/4/2012...
Pet Sounds is the most overrated piece of garbage ever. Only in the most superficial way, in production values, is any ground broken.
Melodies? What melodies? Only "God Only Knows" has a real melody. "Wouldn't it Be Nice" is just simplistic. Sloop John B is a cover. Everything else is meandering and unfocused. Like bad jazz minus the swing.
Brian Wislson's voice is limited at best.
1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

CD Reviews

Love it for the right reasons
Daniel Scarpa | New Jersey, USA | 11/13/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Many people call this one of the greatest albums in the world, but I think that's only because they read that one issue of Rolling Stone. Pet Sounds is not my favorite album ever, it's not even my favorite Beach Boys album (Friends and Wild Honey are my faves), but I love it nonetheless. Not for the production, not because it was ahead of its time. None of that nonsense. Pet Sounds, to me, represents the summers when I would drift off to sleep listening to it and staring at the ocean on the horizon outside my window. When I would feel exceptionally lonely and just listen to "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" again and again and again. When I would listen to the lyrics of That's Not Me and try my hardest to imagine would he could be talking about. When I would complain about this punk/ska-type CD my sister would listen to... until their cover of Sloop John B came on, and we would be singing along together, and vice/versa for when I was listening to Pet Sounds. When me and my (then) new girlfriend decided "Wouldn't It Be Nice" would be our song.



This album was not any sort of monumental listen for me in terms of sound quality or harmony between instruments or anything like that. Pet Sounds was the soundtrack to my life."
One of the Greatest Beach Boys Albums
Lonnie E. Holder | Columbus, Indiana, United States | 10/30/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

""Pet Sounds" is one of those albums that occasionally is released that has a Jekyll/Hyde existence. Many people either hated it or didn't understand it, while those who saw the evolution of rock into art realized that this album was helping direct that evolution. As always in everything from movies to books, the difference between art and entertainment became a huge factor in the album's initial commercial lack of success.



There was nothing like "Pet Sounds" when it came out. Furthermore, the music was very different from what The Beach Boys had done previously. A recipe for commercial disaster. Long time fans of "Barbara Ann" and "Surfing U.S.A." wondered what these songs were all about. This stuff just wasn't The Beach Boys they knew. Little did most fans know that The Beach Boys they knew never were The Beach Boys they thought they knew.



It wasn't until many years later that the complex relationships and creative conflicts between the members of the group were brought to light, and the discovery that Brian Wilson in particular wanted the group to grow in a more mature direction. "Pet Sounds" was a very long step in that direction.



We look back on "Pet Sounds" from our next millenium perspective and want to say, "What's the big deal?" It was a very big deal in 1966. "Pet Sounds" and "Sgt. Pepper" sparked a whole new revolution in rock music the effect of which can never be fully understood or estimated. These albums were the sound of rock music growing up. However, "Pet Sounds" was too alien for the typical public taste at the time, and it flopped.



But, other musicians loved it; particularly The Beatles. John and Paul recognized the roots of something great, and were strongly influenced by it. Many other rock and pop musicians have pointed to "Pet Sounds" as being a big influence on their music. "Pet Sounds" was music as art. "Sgt. Pepper," while also striving for art, also managed to be commercially successful. However, there are songs from "Sgt. Pepper" which followed well the artistic path of "Pet Sounds" that had their own detractors. Unfortunately not everyone understands art.



Listening today, "Pet Sounds" is somewhat dated. However, listen to it over and over, and you realize that the music is well done. From our perspective we can look back over 25+ years of rock music and realize that "Pet Sounds" was ahead of its time. In all the hysteria of The Beatles, "Pet Sounds" got lost.



"Pet Sounds" is great rock because of what it was when it was released, and who it influenced.



Beyond the influence, there are some really great songs on this CD. "Sloop John B." is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "That's Not Me," "I Know There's an Answer," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No"...all very good to great songs. Admittedly somewhat mellow, but beautiful.



Should you buy this album? Well, depends on what you like. "Pet Sounds" refuses to fit into a nice niche. It's not like what The Beach Boys did before it. It is mellow, but it's not a perfect fit into pop music. If you've heard at least 3 or 4 of the songs above, and like them, then you'll like the rest of the CD. If you haven't heard very much of the CD, then either download samples or borrow a copy. I, on the other hand, may need to purchase another copy, because I think the laser diode is knocking too many molecules off my copy, I play it so much.



Note that this album has been reissued and remastered and thus this particular version is now the "old" version. You may want to see what features are available and the price of other versions before you buy. Good luck!

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